What Ashley Poston and Her Characters Are Reading and Recommending

Ashley (the Author)

I’m a chaotic reader. One minute I’ll be obsessed with vacation thrillers (Rachel Hawkins’ Reckless Girls was a delight) and the next I’ll be swooning over romantic witches (Lana Harper’s Payback’s a Witch is delicious) and swoony Disney retellings (Jasmine Guillory’s By the Book made my bookish heart flutter). Though the one genre I always come back to is that super soft romantic fantasy. There’s nothing quite like low stakes and magical worldbuilding that makes my heart absolutely sing.

Rec: Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Florence Day

Florence is the kind of reader who takes forever to read a novel, but once she does it sticks with her for life. She can recount every twist and turn on command. It’s incredibly useful for book reports, but as someone who reads for a living? She often wishes she could read faster.

Rec: Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire, Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall, Something Wilder by Christina Lauren 

Benji Andor (Florence’s Editor)

Because he reads books for a living, when Ben settles down to read for himself he makes it a thing—a nice cup of chamomile tea, his cat on his lap and a snack of chocolate-covered almonds on the side table.

Rec: This Is How You Lose a Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, The Princess Bride by William Goldman 

Xavier Day (Florence’s Dad)

He will always say that his favorite author is his daughter, Florence Day, but if you twist his arm a little bit he’ll admit that he owns every Terry Pratchett book and has a soft spot for quirky British fantasy.

Rec: Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett, Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones 

Dana (The Owner of the B&B Florence Stays At)

They are the most avid reader on the list. They read everywhere—sitting at the front desk of their bed and breakfast, listening to audiobooks in the car, on a hike on the Ridge. Much like their husband, John, they are rarely caught without a book or two to tide them over. And the smuttier, the better.

Rec: Rafe by Rebekah Weatherspoon, Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade, Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert.

John (Married to Dana and works at the B&B)

John juggles between twenty and thirty series at once, between comics, graphic novels, and manga. If you find him in the wild, he absolutely has a manga shoved into one of the various pockets of his cargo shorts and will happily share it with you. 

Rec: Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku by Fujita. But a very solid second would be Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama 

Alice Day (Florence’s Younger Sister)

Rec: Fangs by Sarah Anderson 

Minerva Day (Florence’s Mother)

Rec: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty 

Carver Day (Florence’s Younger Brother)

Carver usually buddy-reads with Florence, if he reads at all. They trade on who gets to choose what book. Florence usually choses a romance, and he tries to counterbalance their reading habits by choosing anything—literally anything—else. His favorite books are the ones you can laugh with. 

Rec: Chuck Tingle’s entire bibliography. 

Rose Wu (Florence’s Best Friend)

Rose buys more books than she’ll ever read. It comes with the territory. She used to work in publishing, and even though she’s elsewhere now, she still finds herself at the same amount of book events. Which never helps her TBR.  

Rec: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo, Priory of the Orange Tree by Shannon Hale